181 



These large trout are objects of great attrac- 

 tion to some of the best London anglers, who 

 unite a degree of skill and patience rarely to 

 be exceeded. The most usual mode prac- 

 tised to deceive these experienced fish is, by 

 trolling, or spinning with a small bleak, 

 gudgeon, or minnow ; and trout of fifteen 

 pounds' weight are occasionally taken. 



Some deep pools in the Thames above Oxford 

 afford excellent trout, and some of them of very 

 large size. We have before us a record of six, 



very few, and to those only who have been in the habit 

 of practising it for a considerable length of time. It re- 

 quires good tackle, great skill, and some nerve. A bungler 

 would even find it difficult to put a bleak properly on a set 

 of the hooks which are used in Thames trout-fishing, so as 

 to make it spin as it ought to do. The angler sits or stands 

 on the top of the piles of the weir, the foaming water rush- 

 ing through them with great force and noise. The torrent 

 then forms eddies and little whirlpools in the basin below, 

 and from which, as the water expands itself, it again re- 

 sumes its calm and stately movement. In the position I 

 have described, the angler has to cast his line into the 

 foaming basin, and this a skilful practitioner will do to a 

 distance of from thirty to forty yards. The great art, how- 

 ever, is in gathering up the line properly in the hand for a 

 second cast, so that it may not become entangled, or be 

 checked in its progress. When the position of the angler 

 is considered, this is no easy task, especially as the loss of 

 his balance might precipitate him into the torrent below." 

 Jesse's Rambles. 



The most celebrated Thames anglers are, Mr. G. Marshall, 

 of Brewer Street, London ; Mr. Cox, of Bermondsey ; Sir 

 Hyde Parker, Win. Whitbread and Ed. Mills, Esquires, 

 and Mr. Bachelor, of Windsor ; and Mr. Goodman, of 

 Hampton Court. 



